Good Counsel junior, former football player has leukemia

Justin Thornton's life changed two years ago during a routine medical exam to play high school football. The slight ache in the freshman's leg wasn't growing pains — it was cancer.

Thornton, now 17 and a junior at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a blood cancer in which too many T-cell lymphoblasts, or immature white blood cells, are found in the blood or bone marrow, according to the National Cancer Institute's Web site. The Germantown youth finished 26 months of radiation and chemotherapy in August and needs a bone marrow donor to complete his treatment.

"Justin was a healthy kid, no history of cancer or anything like that," said his father Tony Thornton, a Navy officer stationed in Bethesda who heard the news while on a church mission trip. "… His [white blood cells] were just totally out of whack. It's not genetic or hereditary, and they don't know what caused it or where it came from."

Justin took the treatment in stride, and many people in his life didn't know he had cancer until recently, Tony Thornton said.

"It definitely bothered me some, so I tried to be as positive and normal as possible," Justin said.

In September, Justin's doctors told him the cancer had come back and recommended a bone marrow transplant. Friends and acquaintances have organized about six bone marrow drives in search of a compatible donor.

"The only way to save Justin is to do a bone marrow transplant," Tony Thornton said.

The Barnesville School, a private school for students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, is hosting a drive Saturday at the Upcounty Regional Services Center in Germantown. Justin graduated from the school in 2005, and his sister Allyssa, 9, still attends.

"When I heard he hadn't found a match yet, I just got the ball rolling," said Vickie Roos, middle school director at The Barnesville School.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, is the most common kind of cancer in children, according to NCI's Web site. About 15 percent of children with ALL have the subtype that affects T-cells, according to the American Cancer Society's Web site.

Justin, his parents and his sister left last week for Duke University Hospital in North Carolina, where he will receive the transplant and spend the next few months recovering. He has been visiting relatives and playing video games, and eventually he will resume his studies with one of the hospital's tutors.

Relatively few bone marrow donors are black, leaving Justin with a smaller pool of potential matches, Tony Thornton said. Doctors have identified a few likely candidates but may have to use compatible stem cell-rich umbilical cord blood if a match is not identified. The closer the match, the smaller the chance of complications.

The family has not let the cancer affect their spirits. Justin said he knew he wanted to work with kids, but his battle with ALL has inspired him to become a pediatrician.

"You have a better perspective on life," he said of the experience. "I think what's happening to me is bettering me."

A fan of anime and paintball, Justin is an usher at church and likes to cook New Orleans-style food with his mother, Nina. And he has something to look forward to after the transplant — when he recovers, his father said he would get him a gym membership so he can train for football.

"It's tough, it's not something you want, but we've all been positive," Tony Thornton said. "There are moments when he's sick and not feeling good, but we don't focus on that. … The focus is to get him healed and totally recovered."

The bone marrow donor drive is from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Upcounty Regional Services Center, 12900 Middlebrook Road, Germantown. To join the National Marrow Donor Program Registry, you must be between 18 and 60 years old, be willing to donate to any patient and meet health guidelines. Contact Vickie Roos at vroos@barnesvilleschool.org or 301-972-0341, ext. 254, or Nadya Dutchin at 443-472-1446. Visit www.marrow.org.